Improvement in buckles



J. B. GATI-IRIGHT.

Buckle.

No. 202,644. Patented April 23, 1878.

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difesi [nwe/zwi UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

J OSIAH B. GATHRIGHT, OF LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY.

IMPROVEMENT IN BUCKLES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 202,644, dated April 23, 1878; application filed November 6, 1877.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Josnln B. GATHRIGHT, of the city of Louisville, county of Jefferson, State of Kentucky, have invented new and useful Improvements in Buckles for Bridles,

Harness, 85o.; and I hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

The object of my invention is to provide a buckle to which one or more straps may be securely attached without sewing, using less leather, and with less cost of labor than by the processes heretofore used.

My invention and the method of using it are so clearly illustrated in the accompanying drawings, Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, that it needs little more description `than reference thereto.

Figsil, 2, and 3 illustrate some of ,the different forms in which the buckle may be made, according to the purpose for which they may be designed, Fig. 3 being adapted to light work, Fig. 2 for heavy work, and Fig. 1 formedium work. Fig.4illustrates the method of securing together and to the buckle a billet and cheek-piece of a bridle, while Fig. 5 illustrates the same buckled up. Fig. illustrates a cheek-piece of a bridle riveted to the buckle and the head-piece buckled in.

It will be seen that the straps in Fig. 4 are so put in and lapped that each is penetrated by all three pins, and that the small pins on each side of a are riveted or clinched down upon the leather, a burr being used or not, as may be desired; and thus the straps are fastened securely together and to the buckle.

In the construction of buckles according to my invention the tongued bar should be depressed below the main frame a little more than in ordinary buckles, to allow space for the doubled straps, and the supplementary bar should be in the same plane.

The buckle may be constructed with only the tongue-bar S connected with or attached to the main frame A, (see Fig. 1,) the supplcmental bars d d', with rivets cast upon their ends, being lateral branches from the tonguebar; or, vice versa, the supplementalbars B B,

Fig. 2, may be cross-bars with rivets cast upon them, connected with the main frame by the usual arms or legs, and may sustain the tongue-bar R as a connecting-branch between them; or, again, both tongue-bar and supplemental bars may be independently attached to the main frame, as shown in Fig. 3.

I am aware that many kinds of buckles have been invented which are provided with two or more tongues, both rigid and exible, but in all of them, I believe, the supplementary tongues were designed and arranged to operate as mere tongues or pins, and were not intended, adapted, or arranged to operate by being clinched or riveted down upon the straps.

The clamping of the straps between the under frame of the buckle and the burrs or clinched head of the pins fastens them much more securely than if merely penetrated by pins, and, in addition, the under straps are, by my invention, so held down that they cannot crowd the upper or buckled strap off the tongue a.

The simplicity in form of buckles made as herein set forth is such that they can be manufactured as cheaply as the ordinary buckle, while they contain all essentials, unless burrs are required, for fastening the straps to it and together. Moreover, the straps may be so easily and rapidly put in and clinched or riveted down, even by young and unskilled workmen, that a great saving in labor is effected, while it affords a more secure fastening for the straps than sewing even, and saves from one to two inches of leather at each buckle.

A hinged tongue may be used by casting the tongue-bar round at center, and leaving open space for the working of the tongue.

In order that buckles constructed according to my invention may work satisfactorily in riveting and clinching, they should be more thoroughly annealed than the usual malleable buckles.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. Abuckle adapted to be automatically attached to straps by having one or more under bars cast upon its under frame in addition to vided with an attaching rivet; or rivets, all 0r supplementary to the tongue or center bar, constructed and adapted to operate substanand having rivets or clinching-spikescast upon tially as shown and described. these supplementary bars, substantially as J OSIAH B. GATHRIGHT. herein shown and described. Witnesses:

2. The buckle-frame A, provided with the JOHN J. HARRISON, tongue-bar S, supplemental bar or bars pro- J OHN A. TYONS. 

